Vijay Mallya’s extradition to India approved by UK Home Secretary

February 4: Sajid Javid, UK Home Secretary has approved the extradition of fugitive economic offender Vijay Mallya to India. The Westminster Magistrates’ Court on December 9, 2018, had ordered Mallya’s extradition to India. While ordering Mallya’s extradition, Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot of the Westminster Magistrates’ Court said there was “no evidence which allowed me to find that if extradited, Dr Mallya was at real risk of suffering a flagrant denial of justice”.

The 62-year-old, owner of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines, is wanted for wilful default of over Rs 9,000 crore of loans from different Indian banks. Last month, a special Prevention of Money Laundering (PML) court in Mumbai declared Mallya a fugitive economic offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders’ Act, 2018.

Mallya, who is facing charges of fraud, money laundering and violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), can appeal against the decision of the UK Home Secretary within 14 days of the order. In case no appeal is made, he will be extradited within 28 days.

Modi Government clears one more step to get Mallya extradited while Opposition rallies around the Saradha Scamsters.

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 4, 2019

Reacting to the development, Union Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted that while “Modi government clears one more step to get Mallya extradited”, the Opposition “rallies around the Saradha Scamsters.”